Wednesday, July 22, 2009

"When you read one, your surroundings recede, time bends and you're transported, mesmerized, enthralled. These are page turners to be sure, but that doesn't mean they're brainless. This year's list will be fiction only; any genre, any period."

Personally I feel like the key is the page-turning part. You're at the beach! You're relaxing! There are distractions! The brain should not be overly taxed, but the book should still be really fun and engaging to read.

Which is why I was a littttle surprised to see NPR's choices for the top 100, including such literary heavyweights as Dostoyevsky's THE BROTHERS KARAMAZOV and Lawrence Durrell's Alexandria Quartet.

Don't get me wrong - I love me some Lawrence Durrell (I represent his estate in the US for crying out loud) and you should absolutely buy JUSTINE and take it to the beach or wherever else you want to read it because it's incredible. It's just not quite what I'd think of as a "beach" read. It's a great literary masterpiece after all, and thus I see it more in the "lounging by the fireplace in cold weather" arena.

I think we can do better than NPR.

So. What are your favorite beach reads of all time?

I'll start with SPHERE by Michael Crichton, CRYPTONOMICON by Neal Stephenson (NPR got that one right), and anything by Jane Austen.

If I'm on a beach (and I live in Canada so this NEVER happens outside of maybe 12 minutes in July), I want funny or fluffy. Or short since I only have 12 minutes.

If I do make it to a real beach (say, in Mexico...Oh, sweet Mexico) I usually save this time for the newest Maeve Binchy or John Grisham. I want to be able to read the entire thing from start to finish (the pool boy would obviously be bringing me drinks during this time).

I'm going to stump for some Canadians. First, Robertson Davies. He doesn't get NEARLY the love he deserves in the States, which is a crime, you Yankees, a crime!

My favorite is What's Bred in the Bone, about an a painter who has some unusual experiences during WWII. The entire Deptford Trilogy (Fifth Business, The Manticore, World of Wonders) is amazing as well.

They're not hard reads, but they're sneaky-deep, and fascinating -- especially if you're a fan of the arts, as many of his books deal with theater, opera, or magic (World of Wonders).

For fluff, try Whale Music, by a Toronto writer named Paul Quarrington, a completely charming story of a reclusive rock star's rebirth, loosely based on Brian Wilson's life.

And I'm taking Charlie Haas' The Enthusiast with me on vacay next week.

YA: Watership DownMystery: Anything by Agatha Christie Thriller: I'm reading Mystic River right now. It'll certainly do.Fantasy: Lord of the Rings. What else?Science Fiction: I concur with Nathan - SphereHorror: I'm torn... It by Stephen King or Floating Dragon by Peter Straub.Literary: The Naked and the Dead

Of course, now I'll spend all day going "Ooh ooh! I just remembered X and Y and Z!"

I can't say I've ever read a book on a beach, which is saying something since I lived in Hawaii as a child and now live in Florida. When I go to the beach it's all about being in the water, but I get the idea of a beach read.

If I want a page turner I go with one of Brandon Sanderson's standalone novels, like Elantris or Warbreaker. If I want a sappy romance I'm all about Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers. If I want classic I go with The Great Gatsby. If I want a book that feels like an old friend, I'll spend an afternoon with Card's Ender's Game. However, if what I really want is to not think, I'm not above picking up any one of the seven Harry Potter books.

THRILLERS: Anything by Harlan Coben or David BaldacciGET IN TOUCH WITH YOUR INTELLIGENT TEENAGER: Anything by John GreenCHARACTER-DRIVEN COMMERCIAL FICTION FOR WOMEN: Maeve BinchyFUN FOR WOMEN W/MYSTERY ELEMENT: Evanovich's Steph Plum seriesCOMMERCIAL FICTION FOR ANYONE: Current fav is THE ART OF RACING IN THE RAIN

I went on a cruise / beach vacation with my extended in-law family in January, and I brought ULYSSES with me. My stepmom-in-law kept trying to shove fashion mags at me. I didn't know how to explain to her that reading something that allows -- no, forces -- me to linger over the language, to consider the reason why every single word and phrase was used is absolutely my idea of vacation bliss!

(On that vacation, I also sang karaoke on the cruise ship every night, danced like a maniac, and drank a Faulknerian amount of bourbon, so none of the fam was worried about me by the end...)

ooh! I read Sphere on the beach in Hawaii, so it's always one of the first books I think of as a beach read!

Anything Crichton works, though, and Grisham and Dan Brown. A good mystery like Robin Cook or the old Patricia Cornwell books. Also, chick lit and YA in general, which I only tend to read at the beach.

I read good lit in the summer...I just don't take it to the beach with me.

Tell you what: I am a huge fan also of Lawrence Durrell, and even more of his brother Gerald whom you also represent. Gerald Durrell wrote three books about his childhood in Greece--I too had a partial childhood in Greece and someone passed me one of his books at that time that helped me relate so much, and I've read them over and over again throughout my life.

Fantastic beach reads: My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell, followed by Birds, Beasts, and Relatives, also by Gerald. The third is called The Garden of the Gods but I don't think it's in print in the US (I have an old battered British copy).

Finally, you can't get any more beachy or saga-y than The Shell Seekers by Rosamunde Pilcher--sweeping romance and a wonderful family saga, and my personal number one favorite book of all time, Coming Home, also by Rosamunde Pilcher. They're both hugely comforting.

Anything by Peter Mayle but Hotel Pastis in particular. Matthew Pearl's The Dante Club. Gaiman's Smoke and Mirrors. Maybe even Laura Esquivel's Like Water for Chocolate. But Mayle probably heads the beach list for me.

Light, distracting reading: Anything by James Herriot or P.G. Wodehouse. I would also second the motion for Jane Austen and Kurt Vonnegut. Also, Stoker's Dracula. It's a good beach novel. A compendium of short stories by Roald Dahl would serve well, too.

For YA/MG, I'd suggest Wings by Aprilynne Pike, anything Kate Dicamillo, anything Eoin Colfer, and of course, the indispenible and hilarious Peter and the Starcatchers, by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson.

I'm with Bittersweet Fountain (awesome name, BTW) - when I go to the beach (which is usually somewhere along the Gulf of Mexico), I'm utterly focused on playing in the sand (ever the kid at heart) or hurling myself into the waves, so although I always lug a book with me, it doesn't always get opened. When it does, it's usually a Nicholas Sparks novel. His are sappy page-turners - ideal for my beachified brain.

Andre Aciman's Call Me by Your Name is pretty fantastic. Not just at the beach--I've never really been to the beach, actually--but in general. I mean, it's set in a seaside Italian Villa, very Mediterranean. Great story, sparkling prose that draws you in, keeps you turning. A little heavy, but pleasant just the same.

Definitely anything by Austen, I agree.

Quartet in Autumn might work well, too. Slim, but powerful in a subtle, understated sort of way.

I agree about 'Timeline' and about 'The Time Traveller's Wife'. But also I nominate Jim Butcher's Harry Dreden series and Justin Gustainis 'Evil Ways' and 'Black Magic Woman'. Oh, and I read James Clemens' 'The Banned and the Banished' series whilst on my honeymoon in Lanzarote.... Seriously, I had time to read!

Anything and everything OTHER than heavy literature. I want to relax with my summer reads (and ideally I like to read while lying on a raft in a pool, although that's difficult to do in San Fran). Needs to be paperback. Mysteries, horror, goofy chicklit... I love finding series or one author to read each summer. One year it was Lovecraft, this year it's the Repairman Jack series by F. Paul Wilson. Harry Ptter, he Casca, the Eternal Mercenary books by Barry Sadler, the Art Lovers mysteries by Hailey Lind...Anything by Barbara Hambly and Charles de Lint. Oh yeah, and I'm with Sierra on Rosamond Pilcher. And I'm greatly enjoying the current trend of zombie novels. Gone With the Wind can be re-read at least every other year. Books! Give me books, dammit!

On another note, it's lists like this that make me continue to hate NPR. In my opinion, a list that contains this many "heavy hitters" as "beach reads" just serves to alienate readers and makes the listmakers look like intellectual showoffs. About 80 percent of these books should be read nowhere near a beach.

They do realize that the beach is that big sandy thing with water on the edge where Corona is magically transformed into a beer that tastes really good?

If we're talking escapist reads (which I go with because I don't really go to the beach very often if at all -- us New Englanders are in a similar boat to our Canadian friends), then I have to go with any off this list:

The beach is too crowded, I'd rather be on my patio, steps away from a well-stocked refrigerator. Regardless, summer reads need to be light and entertaining, just sweep me away to another life and don't ask me to think too much.My picks would be Kristin Hannah or Emily Giffin.

By the way, this will probably sound weird, but I associate the perfect "beach read" with anything that goes well with frozen berries or popsicles-- in other words, a book that is just as refreshing and sweet. When I was little I would read and reread Noel Streatfield's "Shoe" books (especially DANCING SHOES) out on the hammock in my family's yard, while eating paper cups of frozen blueberries I swiped from the freezer... perfect summer reading.

Definitely no BROTHERS KARAMAZOV. However, I'll admit that I once took HEART OF DARKNESS with me on a college trip to Brazil... and while I only read a few pages while I was there, it was awesome to read about Marlowe passing the jungle while my river boat was! I also usually want to devour something substantive (but fun, like Dickens) when I go to a country where I don't speak the language... I guess I want to make up for feeling like an idiot each time I try to interact in the spoken language. Sadly, that effect hasn't stuck now that I've lived by a beach in Israel for more than a year... now I tend to go for chick lit!

Laura and Marsha - oh, thanks, but I've read Half-Blood Prince, I just want to re-read it to compare.

Although I thought they did a wonderful job with the movie, I agree - books are always better than the movie. There's only one exception for me - the Wizard of Oz, which I think far outshined the book.

Last January my husband and I went on a getaway to Cancun, sans kids, for the first time in 8 years! And you know what I did? I read "Daughter of the Forest" the 1st one by Juliet Marillier of the Sevenwaters Trilogy, and I was so absorbed reading that I let my husband sleep for hours, under the scorching sun and its reflection on the white sand. When I woke him up he was so happy I had let him rest, but he didn't notice until much later how burned he was. So, "Daughter..."definitely a page turner, but too engrossing. Now, I'm reading "The Vampire Lestat" because I recently bought the whole Vampire Chronicles. Also, because it's less scary to ready it at the beach, under the blazing sun than in the middle of the night. I'm on my way to the beach right now, and I already have my little paper back tucked into a ziplock bag.

Maya, I LOVE the "Shoe" books! Which reminds me of other childrens faves... The Betsy and Tacy series by Maud Hart Lovelace and the Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander. Heck, the Narnia books. My sister got me started on reading by handing me The Silver Chair and saying, "Read this! You'll love it!"

I second Moby Dick-- I reread it every year... Raymond Chandler I adore, or Arthur Conan Doyle...I want to read the Time Traveler's Wife when I go to Greece next month, but will end up rereading Frankenstein for school.

For me, the HARRY POTTER books are great beach reads. Funny story ... I was leaving for vacation the day after the final book in the series, HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS, came out. I decided not to pre-order in it in case it was delivered while I was away, and I figured the stores would all be sold out of it the first day it came out. I was kind of bummed. Then, after passing through security at the airport, I discovered a most enchanted thing: piles of HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS in airport bookstores! We all bought a copy, got in line, sat down on the floor and started to read. We noticed other people nearby also sitting on the floor, reading the same book. Our surroundings disappeared. When we got on the plane, we had a really funny airline steward. Over the intercom, we periodically heard him say things like, "OK, let’s get this plane off the ground - Wingardium Leviosa!" and, "If you need anything ... don’t bother me, I’m reading HARRY POTTER!" He was very funny, and handed out lots of extra snacks that day.

SPHERE by Michael Crichton is definitely a great beach read, also CONGO.

Recently read THE SECRET LIFE OF BEES by Sue Monk Kidd. Loved it! For me, it definitely fulfilled NPR’s requirement that "... your surroundings recede, time bends and you're transported, mesmerized, enthralled." Felt the same way about THE POISONWOOD BIBLE by Barbara Kingsolver.

Also recently read THE LACE READER by Brunonia Barry, and think it would make a great beach read.

Read THE ROAD by Cormac McCarthy on one vacation; couldn’t put it down.

Mira - Oh, no, I understood that. I realize that you were just planning to re-read HP 6. I'm just saying that trying to COMPARE it to the movie might be a mistake. I loved the book - and I WANTED to love the movie, but I ended up only liking it. I mean, I cried at the right place (course, I cry easily at the movies), but the tension was minimal.

Often, I enjoy the books better than the movies... except with WONDER BOYS. The book's great, but the movie is inspired!

Yamile - I LOVE Anne Rice's vampire books, but I especially love reading them at night. Don't ask me why - but I LOVE feeling scared... so the setting in which I read horror novels makes a difference. Like the time I read THE SHINING in a walk-in refrigerator. Yeah, don't ask about that either.

Okay, I've never commented on here. I'm one of Nathan's lurkers, but not a troll. I hope. Anyway, I had to give a couple of my favorites that I couldn't put down. I read a lot of YA so "The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins and Shannon Hale's "Book of a Thousand Days" are both excellent page-turners. Oh, and the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. Good, fun stuff!

I totally agree about Wonder Boys. That was one of the best movie adaptations I've ever seen. Great film. Is it sacrilege to say it's better than Chabon's words on the page? As penance I will now have to read The Yiddish Policeman's Union. Life is tough.

I also felt that the sixth HARRY POTTER book was much better than the movie. I recently spoke with a filmmaker who told me that the problem with the movie might have been that they went for a PG rating, rather than PG-13. The sixth book revolves so much around the nature of good vs. evil, but the movie downplayed the intensity of that and spent a great deal of time on the dating drama of teenagers. David Yates directed both the fifth and sixth HARRY POTTER movies, but he had a PG-13 rating for HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX. He’s also directing two movies for the final HARRY POTTER book: Part I and Part II .

For the beach, I like a book I can't put down, but isn't too literary, and yet is thought-provoking too. I think I'm going to buy THE HELP by Kathryn Stockett to take on vacation. But I'm going whale watching so I may not be able to do much reading!

That's funny Marilyn. We were on vacation when it came out too, on our way home actually in a motorhome. I had to buy 3 copies, and we all read straight through until we finished, much to the dismay of my disgruntled husband who was driving.

OK - all this Harry love is rankling my synapses... As a disclaimer, I think the books are entertaining; however, I think the last several were over-written/less than ideally crafted (and I don't fault the movies for their takes). Books 5 & 6 both reminded me of Robert Jordan's later WOT books - where nothing really happens until the end. Book 7 has 200 - 300 pages of filler ("camp time") in the middle that delay, as opposed to draw-out or heighten, tension. Of course, if it's a world you love, it's easy to forgive/ignore this loose writing, but I much more appreciated her first 2 books b/c they were entertaining/exciting throughout. (And I was really looking forward to book 7 b/c it was going to be set outside of school -- she had an entire world to work with, but didn't employ it)

You're weirding me out. Our vacation this year involved glaciers too, only we went to Glacier National Park. I didn't read this time though, I wrote. My daughters read Beastly, & Love Stargirl. Beastly has a great winter scene.

Ooh, who knew that today's innocent question would launch such a good discussion?

Bryan - I'm so glad to find other WONDER BOYS fans (it's one of my absolute favorite movies), and, no, it's not sacrilege to say the movie's better. There's always THE AMAZING ADVENTURES OF KAVALIER AND CLAY for a good Chabon fix.

Marilyn - Yeah, the rating thing (and fixation on teenage matters) could be the issue. I have to say, after watching the sixth one, though, I'm not terribly excited about Yates directing the last two. And, can I just say, what the heck is up with TWO movies for the last book? That's as bad as KILL BILL I & II - completely unnecessary. Not enough happens in the last HP book to justify two whole movies.

Which brings me to Bane's point. Although I've been utterly sucked into the HP world, I fully agree that JKR is a lazy writer at times. All the things she introduces (like the time-turner) and never uses again... and, yes, the last book was a disappointment. My husband has, in fact, echoed your sentiments: "They spent 200+ pages in a tent, for God's sake!" He's even more annoyed than I am.

Laurel - I love Dean Koontz, too, and WATCHERS was my first taste of him, as well. Weird.

Mira - Oh, do read Wonder Boys! Just remember... it's not the movie, which might just be Michael Douglas' best performance ever.

How about HOUSE OF LEAVES by Mark Z. Danielewski ? Just kidding. Great book, but people on the beach might wonder why you keep turning the book around in circles, like you don’t know which way is right-side-up for reading a book. :)

WendyCinNYC, I love your reasons for selecting BRIDGET JONES'S DIARY--and I agree. Although they've been said, I also think THE TIME TRAVELER'S WIFE and Meg Cabot books are perfect for the beach. And if you're not eating while taking in the sun, PRIDE AND PREJUDICE AND ZOMBIES!

Ironic about the cold weather down in San Francisco. Up here in Washington, it's SUNNY! Those of you in California (my native state) can rub in the weather most days, so I had to jump on this one. Note: it was sunny when Nathan was up here, too, so we have a witness that Washington weather can be beautiful. :)

Reads where I was sunburned on a recent vacation b/c I just couldn't stop: "Dark Places" and "Sharp Objects" by Gillian Flynn, Steig Larsson's "Girl with the Dragon Tattoo," and "Honeymoon With My Brother" by Frank Wizner. Others I got sucked into despite my best intentions at other times: Twilight, Harry Potter, "Good in Bed" by Jennifer Weiner, and "My Sister's Keeper" by Jodi Picoult.

Series or “complete works” make good beach projects if you’re a fast reader.

I just got introduced to John Marsden’s YA Tomorrow series (7 books, which are followed by his Ellie trilogy). They will go fast though: they were so gripping I couldn’t put them down, but chain-read the 10 books in considerably less than a week. I could picture doing this at the beach.

I like to re-read Paul Scott’s Jewel in the Crown quartet every few years, and the beach would be a good place to do it. The quartet is followed by an epilogue of sorts, Staying On, and his biography (by Hilary Spurling) would round the project off nicely.

Other complete works projects that would be good for the beach would be Dick Francis and John Le Carre.

Nathan, here is a follow up question that perhaps you could ask sometime soon to help someone I know...what book would you ask family and friends to have sent to you if you had to spend 2-3 months in the county jail? Said person first requested Pynchon's "Gravity's Rainbow"

After college, I was hesitant to read anything due to reading overload. Or something like that. The frivolous John Grisham brought me out of my slump and into the world of reading for fun. Fast and easy. Loved anything he wrote. Still do.

Anything that's set in a foreign country, preferably a warm climate, or at least an exotic place.

Say Crete, or Corfu, the Amalfi Coast, Spain, all with a bit of mystery thrown in.

Of course, one of the problems I find with so many of these, is that, while the locale is interesting, maybe even the plot, but the writing is pedestrian. I'd really love to read some with good writing.

Justine is probably my favorite novel of all time, but I have to agree that it's an odd choice for the beach. Unless that beach is on a deserted island. In which case, I would most definitely select it as a "desert island must."

I don't get the term 'beach reads,' since if I'm on the beach I promise I'm not reading. Maybe if I ever got to spend enough time on the beach...

But the definition NPR gives: "When you read one, your surroundings recede, time bends and you're transported, mesmerized, enthralled" belongs first and foremost to Lord of the Rings. The spring I spent reading it for the first time, everything else receded and I was transported far, far away from my front porch. However, I would gladly take the new Spellman Files with me to the beach, or an Agatha Raisin or Hamish Macbeth, and that doesn't include everything I'll think of as soon as I post this. Now if I can just get me a beach...

It was the summer of 1980, or maybe 1981, and I was on my first trip to Cozumel. Ah, the smell of diesel fuel... Anyway, there was one book and one book only that EVERYONE was reading -- in the airport, restaurants, and on the beach -- and if you weren't reading it, well, you were totally broke and couldn't afford it. It was The Bourne Identity by Ludlum.

I just read a great beach read which was, coincidentally, partly set on a beach. Mucho Caliente by Francesca Prescott. Brilliant escapism with a very down-to-earth protagonist and a hunk of a love interest.

I love going to Puerto Vallarta - one of the things that strikes me every time is how many people read on the beach. That's what the vacationers do, by and large. Well, that and drink margaritas. And there are all of these different coffee places and hotels that have little book repositories, either for sale, loan or trade. If you judged the state of publishing by this town, you'd be hard-pressed to see the crisis.

For me, it's so hard to choose...Lord of the FliesThe Count of Monte Cristo Don Quixote The Time Traveler's WifeThe Year of the Fog and No One You Know, both by Michelle Richmond (who breathes live into San Franciso like no one I've ever read!)any of Marian Keyes chick lit books about the Walsh sisters which are all good for a laugh on the beach

My husband also just finished The Strain by del Toro which he read in like 2 days - a personal best for him, usually it takes him a year to read a book.

Well, I just came back from the beach and read three books while there. Of the three, my favorite by far was a Jane Austen twist: PRIDE AND PREJUDICE AND ZOOMBIES! LMAO! I also read Cast's 5th book: HUNTED and some Christopher Moore quick reads. They're great too. CM's best is probably A DIRTY JOB.

I'm off to the beach next week with The Billionaire's Vinegar by Benjamin WallaceThe Defector by Daniel SilvaRococo by Adriana Trigiani...but I'm a shell seeker, so I spend lots of time in the sand and probably won't finish them :)

Simply one of the most darkly sardonic comedies ever. This book is ready for a return to popularity.

For action/adventure, Tom Clancy or Larry Bond.

For horror, Stephen King (I prefer the earlier Castle Rock books, The Stand, or IT)

If something chewier is on the menu, pick a James Michener title at random. I am currently on a 6-day trip and "Alaska" is my weapon of choice.

For the romance readers, consider "The Far Pavillions" by Colleen McCullough. I don't like romances and I loved this book.

For sci-fi, I really really tried to get through and like "2012" by Whitley Strieber. Got too weird for me, but it has a brilliant and innovative premise that kept me turning pages through the first half. A true sci-fi-er should love it all the way through.

I like the history's mysteries tone of Dan Brown, even when it's pure fantasy. To me his books are like tortilla chips. Even the flakey and half-baked ones are still tasty.

Okay, so I read and write Romance. I also love Urban Fantasy and Crime Novels, but I don't like to read any of these on the beach. I want to enjoy the beach. I actually prefer weighty tomes for beach reading, the type where I can read a paragraph and then just stare into the ocean thinking about it. However, on a recent cruise, I devoured Dorothy Dunnett's second Lymond book . Can't remember which one that is, but it was perfect.

Having read "The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love" by Oscar Hijuelos on the beaches of Hawaii, I can vouch that it was the perfect beach read. I tasted the food, I swayed with the music. The book moved me in a way it might not have had I read it in bits and pieces before bed each night. Man, I loved that book.

Oh, and James Lee Burke would be another fav, maybe even more than John Sanford, because Burke has a talent for those beautiful passages describing nature. What better than being out in nature and absorbing it through the written word as well.

I write for children and young adults, and that is what I read for pleasure. I love Riordan's Percy Jackson series, starting with The Lightning Thief. Scholastic's 39 Steps series is fun, and the book I'm reading now, Masterpiece by Broach, makes the list, as well.

I'm going to go with something funny that I can share with my equally obnoxious friends but still put down when a game of sand volleyball picks up and don't care if I never see it again (just in case of you know, a giant tidal wave hits while we're playing sand volleyball or something...) and go with Tucker Max.

I'll list the books that I've read that I couldn't put down once I started:

The Lost Legends of New Jersey by Frederick ReikenThe Da Vinci Code (Brown)His Dark Materials trilogy (Pullman)The Time Traveler's Wife

Also, I tried this at the beach last year: Bring some of your own writing to share with those around you. There's no better feeling than knowing that people are reading your work (although, there's no worse feeling than if they put down your work for James Patterson).

I definitely agree with some of classics- I love Jane Austen and Dumas. Sometimes I just want pure entertainment for a "beach read" though. New author John Lacombe's Winter Games was the last fast-paced adventure I read.

The best 'beach-read' I've ever read was a novel that, at the time, was generating a tremendous amount of buzz, and which, foolishly, I assumed I was going to detest - this novel, at the time, was being cut to pieces in most literary circles, and for that reason I had actually allowed a part of my mind to be made up for me before I had even set eyes on the first page.

It was being cut to pieces of course because it was selling well, and because it was an easy-read.

The funny thing is that I actually did read this book at the beach. I can remember it well, because I was the designated driver that day, and while my friends proceeded to get goosed, I sat there, sober, and read this novel.

It was The Firm, by John... something, I can't remember his last name.

Goodman, or something like that.

I've often wondered what happened to that guy? He just vanished, as typically happens with authors.

How many writers do we know of who wrote a best-seller, but had no idea how they had managed to do it, and so never wrote again.

Too many!

Can anybody say Robert John Waller!

That guy, of course, wrote the best-selling novel: "The Brides Of Madison County". Ah, but then after his success there we never heard from the fellow again.

So typical. So typical.

If I had to choose a second great 'beach-read' I would probably name a book authored by a novelist whose name, funnily enough, has completely escaped me: the book was titled "The Pelican Brief" and it was a damned fine book.

Here, I'm going to sign my name now. People seem to hate it that I've posted, like, two comments here anonymously.

@anon 11:59 PM Not sure if you're serious or I missed your beach dry sense of humour - both books you mention (The Firm and Pelican Brief) and had forgotten the surname - "I've often wondered what happened to that guy? He just vanished, as typically happens with authors" - are John Grisham, who definitely didn't fall into obscurity.

Have to agree with some of the others:

Melissa's - The Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon (heavy to carry though, more of a garden summer read than beach read for me)

Ink - Christie mysteries - oh yes, how many of those did I read as a teen on summer holidays!?

But I too (like WendyC and MysteryRobin), spend more time on beaches looking after and playing with my three under three, so what do I take to read? Anything that's not too heavy (can you possibly imagine before you do it, how much stuff you need to carry with three kids to a beach?) and stories that I can read in short snaps and still follow who is who and what happens (ie: a page or two at a a time) which is not very satisfactory but sometimes the only reading I can get done.

Every Summer needs some Jane Austen. It just happens. I wind up with a Jane Austen book and it always turns out to be the medicine I need.

Lately, though, I've been enjoying Murakami books. I've already read Kafka on the Shore and now I'm loaded with Norwegian Wood for my 14 hour flight from Japan. I'm excited about Norwegian Wood, but I don't think it could top Kafka on the Shore for me--but I'm always open to the unexpected.

Oh, and I have this theory that Miyazaki Hayao will be on my flight. That theory really had nothing to do with summer reads, so it's time to go back to my corner.

Totally agree with Time Traveller's Wife, but I also love to read anything by Ben Elton when on holidays. I live on the south east coast of Australia, so heaps of beautiful beach time! Mind you - Ben's dry English wit and clever plots works when I go to thew Snowy Mountains on holidays, too!

Sphere. Good choice, Nathan. Crichton is one of my all-time favorites. I would throw Timeline by him in the mix. That's my number one choice out of all of his novels. If you haven't read it, pick it up and give it a try. As well as Prey. Another great read.

I've noticed THE TIME TRAVELER'S WIFE on a number of lists. I bought this book in an airport bookstore thinking it would be the perfect "airplane read," but I got so confused by the plot after a couple of chapters I had to put it down. I think it might be a challenging beach read (at least for me!).

I do agree that THE DIVINE SECRETS OF THE YA-YA SISTERHOOD should be on the list--perfect beach book. If you haven't read this one, definitely stick it in your beach bag this summer.

That's a great suggestion there! Wodehouse. Man, that's the best answer so far.

I wish that I had written that.

Wodehouse, unfortunately - and maybe a bit shockingly - has fallen off the map in recent years. It's incredibly depressing when I think about how many people of my age group have no idea who Wodehouse even is.

Which of the Wodehouse novels is your favorite? - if I had to choose one, I'd have to go with 'Right-ho, Jeeves'.

This was the novel in which Gussie Fink-nottle (not too sure about the spelling there) got liquored up before reading a speech and distributing the prizes at Market-Snodsbury Grammar school - Bertie's aunt subsequently referred to Gussie as being that 'inebriated newt-fancier'.

Pam - And I just have to second your passion for James Lee Burke. I'm from Louisiana, and I love the way he describes the southern part of the state in his Robicheaux books. In fact, I've begun re-reading the entire series. I'm so happy to hear that someone else appreciates him, too!

First, I agree with Nathan completely regarding the proper definition of a beach read. Only NPR would attempt to call War and Peace a beach read. As for my votes, I'm definitely in the Hiaasen camp. Commenter David put it particularly well. The Island of the Sequined Love Nun, by Christopher Moore, is another great beach read. And The Beach, by Alex Garland, and I Capture the Castle, by Dodie Smith, both of which actually made the NPR list.

You know, with all the time I've spent on beaches in my life--and I know the coast between Monterey and about Point Reyes pretty well--I have to admit I've never read anything on a beach. There's too much to do at the beach to spend the day sitting in one place reading.

I totally understand Sphere. Frankly, anything Michael Crichton (RIP) constitutes a good beach read. i.e. the vastly under appreciated Jurassic Park and The Lost World which is simultaneously intelligent and terrifying.

You know that the other day I found out that my friends didn't know who he WAS? sigh...

I've just this afternoon finished a book by Douglas Adams titled "Last Chance To See".

The highlight of the book involves an 'international transit lounge', two 'transit authorities', three weary and angry transit passengers, and a refreshment-kiosk.

A search to buy a condom in China was also rather astonishing - the condom was meant for a microphone, to water-proof it for recording the sounds that a dolphin might hear while swimming in the Yangtze river.

The Chinese merchant, unable to understand English, but understanding a little mime, which Douglas had plucked up the nerve to perform, wanted to sell them some birth control pills.

What an amazing book - I can't believe that it took me so long to get around to reading that?

I think I might start reading it again tonight? I can't believe how quickly I advanced through that?

Bel Canto, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, East of Eden, More Than You Know, Love Walked In, Jane Eyre, Emma, Washington Square..that's my short-list...books I finished and thought immediately, "I HAVE to read that again!"

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